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NARRATOR: It's knockout weekon MasterChef, and the ten remaining cooks have all felt the heat of their first professional kitchen. Ooh, the stress! I feel like a deerin the headlights. I don't think anything couldprepare you for the intensity of a kitchen. So hardcore. Now they're back to fight for theirplace in the semifinals. I never thought in my wildest dreamsI'd get this far. Semifinals has definitely gota nice ring to it. It would be very bittersweetto go home right now, So I'm just going to go in thereand be brilliant. I have to be at my bestin the kitchen today. It's game on. These ten are extraordinary, but right now they're going to haveto fight for their place. GREGG: We can honestly say now,for the first time, the winner of this year'scompetition is in the kitchen. I look around this kitchen and I just am amazed by the amountof culinary talent. You ten have set this competitionon fire. Today, you are going to facea MasterChef invention test. Some of you have already done that. But for most of you, you've only ever cookedyour own food. You're going to have to thinkon your feet. Through those doors over there, there is a larder. And it's stacked full of the mostamazing ingredients - meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, spices, flavourings - to allow you to cook whateveryou want. But whatever it is, it's got to be amazing. Because we only have eight semifinalplaces to give. At the end of this, two of youwill be going home. Ladies and gentlemen, one hour. Let's cook. Definitely very daunting. An hour's not a lot of time. They're going to have to holdtheir nerve. They're going to have to plantheir dish. Planning is paramount. They can't just hopefor the best here. I'm a little bit nervous. I'm like this. But I thinkI've got a plan. Just make something tasty,something that I love. They should by now, with any ingredients given to them, be able to present magic. I cook with a lot of fish at home,so I've gone with the fish. I feel like I've got a goodstarting point. Gabriel has wowed us withhis Brazilian food. More of the same, please. His food is as colourful andhas as much character as he does. Knockout week has been fun.I'm having an amazing time. I've come so far, but I have not done aninvention test yet. My skills will be tested. So this is basicallythe first dish I learned from my nonna -my Italian grandmother. So it's going to be a chorizoand prawn risotto. What's the secret ofa wonderful risotto? I think it needs to have a bite,a bit spicy, seafoody. Just going to be very flavoursome. A risotto can be a fantastic thing. Chorizo, which is spicy and fullof paprika and very, very rich. Prawn stock from the shells andthe head of those prawns. He wants this risotto to be reallywell flavoured, and we need that rice to havea little bit of a bite - but not too much. Hazel came in here a littleunsure of herself, but she has really grownin confidence as our competition has developed. She's quality. I'm pushing myself a lot more. Try new flavours and elevatemy dishes at home. I'm always trying to finesse thingshere and there, so there's definitely growth. Hazel - of course, you have donean invention test before. And it was very, very impressive. So, does that make it easierthis time? Er, it probably makes me a littlebit more prepared, yes. What's the dish, please? Fillet of salmon in a brown butterand caper sauce. Er, potato puree, samphireand grilled chicory. What's needed right now if you're going to graba semifinal place? You to love my food. This is great. This is taking everyday,ordinary things - salmon, mashed potato,a brown butter sauce - and bringing them togetherin a style whereby they could grace the table ofa bistro or a restaurant. 15 minutes gone, everybody. You've got 45 minutes left,please. Munopa, at 19, is the youngest cookin the competition. She has travelled around the worldwith her family, and her cooking style reflects that. She has got lots and lots of skill, but she doesn't have to put lotsof different ingredients on a plate to make a great plateof food. I think my strength has been tryingto show technique, so being in the professional kitchenwas probably the highlight of my MasterChef journey so far. That precision, the detail, is something I'm going to bringto all my challenges moving forward. I'm going to be makinga chicken breast with carrot puree, crispy shallotsand a bacon crumb. Sounds like a good dish. Are you feeling good about this? I'm feeling as good as one can aboutan invention test, I think. Chicken, carrots and onions. And it sounds like a great plan. She's keeping it simple and classic, and hopefully elevated to somethingquite beautiful. Sam has got a good eye for detail, and his heart and soul is inthe flavours of Thailand. My approach today for this challengeis continue to be me, doing what I love in food. Sam's making a dish inspiredby a classic Thai larb - usually minced pork, cooked downwith lots and lots of dried chilli, fish sauceand lime juice. And it's really spicy. But what we've actually got isa piece of pork belly which has been marinated, which he's roasting in the oven. A pork belly for me takesabout four hours. I just hope that pork bellyis cooked all the way through andnot tough and chewy. Sam, this is the first time you'vefaced an invention test. Yeah, I like to plan when I cook. This is the first time I'm tryingthis pork belly. Oh, wow. Yeah. But I know, like, the flavours. How risky is this right now? Very risky, but hopefullyit paid off. Just cutting it in halffor it to cook quicker. You've had half an hour, guys. Thank you. Claire's dishes reflecther lifestyle. It's English farmhouse meets slice of Canada with a nice big sprinkle of Denmark. If I know my ingredients andmy techniques well enough, hopefully the invention test shouldshow what flows from my creativity. Or it'll be a disaster. One or the other. I love an invention test. My life is an invention test. You know, I have lots of peopleto cook for who all have different tastes. I don't always have exactlythe right thing in, so you've got to improvisewith what's there. And it gives you skillsfor this kind of thing. Brilliant! What's the dish, please,Claire? I'm doing a roasted onion anda chicken leg wrapped in chicken skin with somepickled deep-fried onions. It sounds unusual, which is typically Claire. This dish fascinates me. She's going to take the poachedchicken flesh from the legs, mix that with bacon, onionsand walnuts, and then wrap it back in its skin - almost like a chicken ballotine. But will that be moist inside? If that chicken parcel is dry,we've got a problem. Henry's versatilityis extraordinary. He gives us dishes fromall over the world and always with a great deal oftechnical ability. I think, out of all the challengeswe've done, this is the one I'm probablymost nervous about. You can't take too much on becauseyou won't get it done. But equally, if you take ontoo little, you're not going to showenough stretch. So it's getting that balance right. I'm doing a sort of takeon a katsu curry, with a butternut squash sauce with curry flavours, pickled carrotand cucumber, and roasted butternut squash. Do you make a katsu at home? Yeah, like a katsu at home. I think it's delicious. But then I saw a butternut squashand I thought, "Let's get that involved." Katsu curry - usually a crumbedpiece of chicken with a curry sauce on the side. Henry's sauce has been madefrom butternut squash, lots and lots of spices -cumin and coriander - and coconut milk. Fantastic. Butternut squash, when it's pureed,is almost velvety. A lovely idea. Olivia - full of passion,full of enthusiasm and fantastic at Italianclassic food. I always bring recipes that havetraditional Italian ingredients, but with techniques that I inventon my feet. We all want to be in the semifinal, so the strategy today should beto play it quite safe. Today, I'm making some mascarponeand lemon-filled ravioli in the prawn bisque, and somesauteed prawns. And then there is a tuile withthe cuttlefish ink. Why pasta? This represents me. It may be the last time I cookfor you, because someone is going home today. Do you think you mightbe going home today? No, I don't. But, you know,you never know. I mean, I may be wrong. Sometimes I'm also wrong. She's got to make pasta. She's gotto make a filling. She's got to make a bisque,got to make a tweel - and she's got to make allof that in one hour. If she can get this all done, and if we have big, bold flavours,I'll be very, very excited indeed. I haven't started to makemy pasta yet, you know? So I'm a bit behind with time,but it should be fine. Trevor's food is getting more andmore technical as he goes. He cooks big, bold food, but using the everydayand the ordinary. It's going to be very, very tough tomake it through to the next round. You just need to bring your A-gameall of the time now. There isn't any wiggle room. You don't strike me as a kind ofinvention test cook. You strike me as a kind ofplanned cook. Is that right?Yeah. You're very perceptive there. Yeah, I'm sort of winging iton a bit of a prayer. What's the dish, Trevor? Lemon solewith a white wine and cream sauce, glazed baby carrots, bit of spinach. You can do it. Those fillets of fishare really thin. And lemon sole cooks in a matterof seconds. It needs to be beautifullycooked fish. Just on a very low heat, just to warm it through, really. You've got just 15 minutes left,everybody. 15 minutes. Sophie's one of the cleverestveg cooks I've ever seen. She produced for us pork bellyout of vegetables. She's shown herself to be adaptable. What's she going to come up with? I feel like it's been sucha big journey for me. I've learnt so much about myself,my style of cooking. I just want to keep going. Follow my gut and it will take mesomewhere wonderful. Sophie's doing a dish made upmainly of beans. Lovely and creamy and rich. And on top of that, we're gettingspiced pumpkin with cumin and coriander. The pumpkin, roasted,goes quite soft. Beans, when they're cooked down,are quite soft. I just hope she's going to add sometexture in here somewhere. I make beans all the time. If I get home from work late, I just need something that I canjust throw together. And this is definitely somethingthat I would make for myself. How do you move from what you graband go with at home to MasterChef semifinal standard? I'm going to try and elevate it and just put loads of flavourinto it, and just do something I love. Harry's a fishmonger and he can seem to turn his handto absolutely anything. His food is exciting andit's really technical. My flavour profiles have beenquite classical, so maybe pushing the boat outa little bit today and working with some maybebolder flavours. You know, some spices. Might challenge my way of cooking -could be interesting. Harry's dish has been inspired by the classic Greek dish moussaka. A neck of lamb which he's stuffedwith spinach and almonds, flavoured with cumin and coriander. He's roasting a courgette. And in the centre of that, he's going to put a mixtureof aubergines which he's baked with more cumin, a tomato sauce, bechamel - and he's going to blowtorch thebechamel so it goes brown. I hope the dish looks fantasticas well as tastes fantastic. Harry, you've done an invention testbefore. And you did lamb, right? You've got lamb again.I did indeed, yeah. It was lamb mince last time. This time, I'm going for somethingthat's a little bit more modern. I just need to focus on a reallynice balance of flavours. Good luck. Thank you. Five minutes. Food on plates, please. I'm rushing now. Not quite how I want it. I'm just going to pop themin the oven until, like, the last minute. I tasted it a couple of times. The sauce tastes nice and prawny. Very happy with it. Three minutes, everybody. All right? It's a miracle because, like,two minutes ago, I didn't have anything to serve. It's all about the crispy skin. Final, final touches. Come on, Sam! That's it, stop! Stop, your time is up! Well done. Let's have a look. APPLAUSE I did what I could. Yeah. NARRATOR: First up is full-time mumHazel, who served pan-fried salmonon pomme puree with samphire, grilled chicory anda brown butter and caper sauce. That piece of fish is great. You've seasoned the skinto the nth degree. It's going crispy. The flesh underneath itis beautiful. And your mashed potato is reallynicely seasoned. That butter sauce I think is superb. The sharpness of capers in otherwisealmost nutty butter. Love the bitter crunch ofthat red chicory. Love it. I think that's a very,very good dish. Thank you. I feel great. The plate thatI put out, it was perfect. NARRATOR: Head of e-commerceGabriel's dish is a prawn, chorizo and pea risotto. GREGG: First of all, it's tangy,salty Parmesan. Get a little bit of sweet pea. And then you get the unmistakablepaprika chorizo running through it. I like it. I prefer my risottoa little wetter. It's drying slightly. I like your prawns that are cookedacross the top. You get a lovely flavour ofthe prawns running through the whole thing. But I would like myrice cooked more. I'm finding it very chalky. GABRIEL SIGHS I'm glad it's over. But, er, I was a little concernedabout the cook of the rice. I'm hoping that someone doesa lot worse than me so I can stay in the competition. So sending bad vibes. GABRIEL LAUGHS NARRATOR: 19-year-old Munopahas pan-fried a chicken breast and topped itwith a bacon crumb on a carrot puree withcrispy shallots, glazed shallot and a chickenand white wine sauce. Munopa, you've taken carrots,onions, chicken and a bit of bacon and made something truly fantastic. I love it. Sweet carrot puree, headywith white pepper. Bacon crumb being smoky. Chicken, which you butcheredyourself cooked perfectly well. What you've done here is you haven'tput anything unnecessary on the plate.Yeah. That chicken sauce that you've madeis superb. Really good seasoning. There's a slight white winesharpness. Very, very good indeed. Love the fried shallots. That is really good cooking. Thank you. I make chicken all the time at home, and I knew certain flavourswould go well with it. So I stuck to my gut and I'm happywith how it went. NARRATOR: Vocational trainer Samhas made pork belly marinated in chilli and lime and topped with sesame seeds, with chilli cucumber and an apple, pineappleand lemongrass salad. Your pork belly - I really like that wonderful heatof chilli. That lime juice so it's saltyand hot, sour and sharp. Some of it's a little bit chewy. It needs to be cooked more. But I like the flavour combination. I absolutely love this salad.I really do. That super sweet pineapple andthe slightly sharper apple. And lots of chilli.Absolutely fantastic. Thank you. Not completely great, but nottoo bad either. The only thing was my pork. So, yeah, just wait to hearthe end result. NARRATOR: Copywriter Claireis serving chicken, bacon, mushroom and walnutstuffed chicken skin topped with deep-friedpickled onions on a roasted onion steakwith an onion sabayon. GREGG: You've got poachedchicken thigh, the salty smokiness of bacon, and those nuts feel likepearl barley. Delightful. The roasted onion is sweet. Extraordinary cook you are. The centre mixture insideyour chicken skin needs to be a bit moister, but that sabayon underneath there - flavour of onions and stock withlots and lots of mustard - is really delicious. And across the top, these crunchybits of pickled onions which give a slight bit of sharpnessbut more texture. I think it's really inventive. And the process you're showing,I'm amazed. The comments felt like they got tothe heart of who I am. They tasted something that is reallyhow I cook. NARRATOR: Retail business managerHenry has cooked chicken katsu withhasselback squash, pickled carrot and cucumber, mirin and salt-dressed cabbage, boiled rice and a spiced butternut squashcurry sauce. GREGG: The chicken's just perfect. It's seasoned on the top.It's a perfect crunch. It's not at all greasy. And inside there, that chickenis soft and moist. A little bit of sweetness onthat cabbage underneath. Rice is perfectly cooked. This is a good dish. You've got the smoothness comingfrom that butternut squash, which makes that sauce lovelyand rich and opulent. But you've spiced it very,very heavily, so it's got a really nice heaton the back of the throat. Definitely not a conventionalkatsu curry by any means at all. I like it. Everything kind of went to plan, so, like, I'm definitely reallyhappy with that. NARRATOR: Talent acquisitionsmanager Olivia has made mascarpone and lemon-filledravioli, topped with sauteed prawns, served with a prawn bisque,cuttlefish ink tuiles and a lemon and parsley crumb. Your pasta is beautifully made. Lovely and thin. Inside, ample filling of mascarpone. Cooked prawn across the top. Little bits of cuttlefish tuileadding a bit of saltiness. Olivia, in an hour, I have to sayI'm really, really impressed with what you've done. This is a glorious bowl of pasta - with a hint of citrus because you've put the lemon zestthrough it. Your bisque is naturally sweet and it matches the prawns on there. It's great. This really touches my heart because I'm always 100%real when I cook. Amazing!So I got quite emotional. NARRATOR: Project manager Trevor'sdish is pan-fried lemon sole on spinach with baby glazed carrotsand a white wine sauce. That lemon sole - the flavoursare great. The spinach underneath -nicely cooked. But your fish is slightly over. Very, very good sauce, but it's gota little bit of sharpness and a little bit of bitternessfrom the wine. Well done. With the carrot, you've justcooked them - and you like your fish a littlefirmer than I do. I'm feeling fragile at the moment. I found the invention testvery stressful. It's not my type of cooking. NARRATOR: Post-production colouristSophie has served creamy garlic beans with cumin and coriander-spicedcaramelised squash, sauteed cavolo nero, crispy garlic breadcrumbs, sage leaves and a herband lemon oil. GREGG: There's a lot of garlicthrough those beans, but I like the smokiness ofthe spices that you've put across that lovelysweet pumpkin. There's a hint of citrus comingthrough that as well. I love your flavours, but the cavolo is too chewy. Love the flavour of the beans. Like the addition of the crumbacross the top. The kale needs to be softer. Boil it first, then cook it. I'm feeling a little bitoverwhelmed. But obviously, at this levelof competition, it needs to be perfect. NARRATOR: Inspired by the flavoursof a Greek moussaka, fishmonger Harry has stuffeda lamb neck with spinach and almonds and served it with roastedcourgette, cumin and coriander-spiced auberginein a tomato sauce, with a torched bechamel. GREGG: Nicely cooked lamb neck. Plenty of colour on the outside,pink in the middle. That spinach adds another dimensionto it. I like this moussaka affairon the courgette. That bechamel - creamy white sauce -that's good. You've got a really wonderful,rich tomato sauce which is quite sweet. Little cubes of aubergine which arecooked really well. But you need some more spicein there to bring out the flavour. But I love the way it looks and I think it shows a huge amountof skill. I really want that placein the semifinal. It's within touching distance now and it just makes you want itthat bit more. What a fantastic cook-off. Some of them excelledbeyond expectation, but we've only got eight semifinalplaces to give. This is a big decision. For me, there's four peoplewe thought the food was absolutely fantastic. Munopa with her chickenand carrot puree. Sensational dish. Olivia - ravioli filledwith mascarpone. Fantastic. Hazel with her roasted salmonon mashed potato, a caper brown butter sauce.Oh! Henry and his version ofa chicken katsu. Those four... Got to go through to the semifinal. Claire really intrigues me. I just love her style. Chicken stuffing with walnutsand the bacon? What an invention as a dishthat was! Harry - I like his take on moussaka,I really do. And lamb neck - difficult pieceof meat to cook. His was done very well. That gives us six throughto the next round. And that means we've got fourmore cooks to talk about. Trevor overcooked his fish. But his sauce was fantastic. Gabriel's risotto waswell flavoured, but it was chalky and dry. I liked the flavours ofSophie's dish. I liked the textures. But that cavolo nero was too chewy. Sam's pork belly wasn'tabsolutely perfect, but his flavours were big. They were bold. They were great. I'm really, really growing to lovethe competition. I'm just going to keep fighting. I have so much fire in me left. I'm not done. I think John and Gregg have gota very tough decision, and I just hope I've made itthrough. I feel like I've putso much into this. I've given everything. And to get a place inthe semifinals, it would just be likea dream come true. I want to say a great big thank you. The MasterChef kitchen was full ofcreativity and extraordinary food. But we can't take you all with us. There were four people that Greggand I agreed stood out amongst the crowd. Munopa. Henry. Olivia. Hazel. Oh, my God. There were two other people webelieve have done enough to get themselves a semifinal place. Harry. Claire. Congratulations. Trevor, Sophie, Sam and Gabriel, two of you are leavingthe competition. Sophie. Sam. Congratulations, you're goingthrough to the semifinal. Trevor, Gabriel - gentlemen, thank you very muchindeed. So sorry, you're leaving us. APPLAUSE I can't believe it's over. I had so much more to give. But I think my mum and my familyare going to be so proud. I made it so much further thanI thought I would, so that's a big achievement. I can't be disappointed. It's just a fantastic experience, and I wouldn't have changed itfor the world. I'm going to give myselfa little bit of a break, not do too much cooking -and just chill. Welcome to the semifinals. Yay! Congratulations! LAUGHTER Gravy! I'd mentally prepared myselfto go home. This was a close call, so I definitely need to bring backmy A-game. To call myself a semifinaliston MasterChef is unreal. It really is unreal. It's pretty fantastic. This is the best I've felt atthe end of a cook ever. I'm delighted. It feels like the creme de la cremenow. Final eight. Like, when you say itout loud, it's just like... It's honestly unfathomable. Essex girls! Essex girls! I'm achieving something amazing. NARRATOR: Next time,it's the semifinals. Wahey, we've got pies! CHEERING We've got pies! We've got pies! What are we doing about temperature? And the contestants are in forthe culinary experience of a lifetime. LAUGHTER Wow! GREGG: That's a fabulous dish! You have really done it proud.